How Tilda Swinton Disappears into a Character

Just to be clear, Lutz Ebersdorf isn’t a real person.

By Jacob T. Swinney | November 5, 2018

The Academy Award-winning Tilda Swinton has earned a reputation for taking on strange and transformative roles — she often disappears into them completely, especially in movies like Snowpiercer and The Grand Budapest Hotel. She took things a step further with the 2018 remake of Suspiria, secretly playing an elderly man, and even claiming that the fictitious actor Lutz Ebersdorf played the character. But Swinton is much more than a chameleon — she is one of the most talented actresses of her generation. Even when she isn’t transforming into over-the-top characters, Swinton always brings complex layers to her performances. This is a rare gift, and it is one of the many reasons that Tilda Swinton is one of the greats.

Watch Now: See Tilda Swinton in the John Berger documentary, The Seasons in Quincy (which she also co-directed). And don’t miss her in what was her first screen credit, Caravaggio, nor in the Lynn Hershman Leeson directed Teknolust.